SGR and ICD-10 Update

March 26, 2014

Late last night, the House Rules Committee authorized legislation to go to the floor of the House that would delay for one year, the SGR related cuts in physician fee schedule payments scheduled to take effect on April 1.Under this legislation, those cuts would be delayed until April 1, 2015.

In addition, the bill would make a number of other changes in the Medicare program, not least of which would be a one-year delay in the ICD-10 transition.Under this bill, the Secretary of HHS would be prohibited from mandating use of ICD-10 until October 1, 2015.

The bill would also “extend” a variety of expiring provisions previously extended by Congress.

The bill is scheduled for consideration by the House on Thursday, March 27th under “suspension” (i.e. House temporarily suspends normal rules).In order for the House to take up this bill under “suspension,” a two-thirds (2/3) majority must agree to consider this bill.It is not clear whether the House Leadership has the two-thirds (2/3) majority votes.

A bill brought before the House under “suspension” cannot be amended.

As always, ADVOCATE will keep you updated on this and all issues impacting radiology.